Boys Meet

Huntington North posted a dominant score of 23 in winning the 16-team meet. Maconaquah (88), Rensselaer (89) and Western (94) rounded out the top four. Kokomo was fifth (131), Peru was eighth (269), Northwestern was 12th (324), Cass was 13th (335), and Tipton 14th (347).

Western coach Gary Jewell noted his squad’s shot at second place took a major hit when his No. 4 runner, John Capps, tripped and fell over an unmarked tree stump in the woods with a little more than a mile remaining in the race. Capps was running around 15th place at the time; he finished 38th.

“I’m really disappointed for my guys, but things like that you can’t control,” Jewell said.

The Panthers’ top five runners were: Austin Young (eighth place, 16:48); Chris Love (10th, 16:57); Kody Harmon (14th, 17:22); Ben Bradshaw (33rd, 18:06); an Braxton Bagwell (35th, 18:09).

“We ran pretty well,” Jewell said. “Austin was a little off his game; he was probably 20 seconds slower than he wanted to be, but Kody Harmon ran his best race of the season and Chris Love, Ben Bradshaw and Braxton all [had personal records] and John had a very good race going until he fell.”

Dylan Walker was 13th to lead Kokomo (17:21), followed by Adrian Glover (27th, 18:01), Jordan Lee (32nd, 18:05), Matt Wyss (34th, 18:08), Austin Conwell (36th, 18:10). Kokomo’s next meet is the North Central Conference meet at Indiana Wesleyan next Tuesday in Marion.

“We had three out of seven set season bests and our gap time was the best of the season [49 seconds],” Kokomo skipper Stucker said. “That was good, but that tells you maybe our top guys didn’t run well, and they didn’t, but the guys down low did. Overall we’re slowly improving, but we’re just not consistent yet.”

Sam Freeman led Northwestern in 24th (17:54), Nolan Cockrell was 71st (19:55), Kyle Condon was 77th (20:09), Jordan Wilson was 90th (21:18), and Alex Fruth was 93rd (21:26).

“I thought the guys did well on the sectional course,” NW coach Stevens said. “[We] had five course bests and two PRs.”

Maconaquah was led by Jacob Bingham in seventh (16:47), Austin Young led Western in eighth (16:48), Shannon Garretson led Peru in 40th (18:23), Nate Wilson led Cass in 39th (18:18), and Evan Tansy led Tipton in 53rd (19:57).

Kyle Overway of Logan was fastest in 15:53.

Girls race

Huntington North (25) ran away with top honors and Northwestern (110) edged Western (113) for second place in the 16-team meet. Cass was fourth (134), Maconaquah was eighth (215), Tipton was 11th (246), Kokomo was 12th (260) and Peru was 13th (273).

Heidi Freeman led Northwestern, taking fourth in 20:24. Hannah Ault was 13th (21:20), Britanny Jocius was 18th (21:40), Lauren Dewhurst was 20th (21:43), and Elise Cobb was 59th (24:10).

“[I’m] very happy to get a second-place finish in a big tournament like that with 16 teams,” NW coach Dave Stevens said. “I thought the girls ran very well. I think three of our top five had PRs, on our sectional course that’s good to see. Any time you can finish second to a team like Huntington North it’s a good thing.”

Western’s top five runners were: Corianne Myer (12th place, 21:18); Krissy Durr (15th, 21:27); Kayla Gaskins (21st, 21:46); Erin Weber (32nd, 22:17); and Bre Nicholas (37th, 22:44).

“I thought we ran really well,” Western coach Bo Britton said. “Our top four either had season bests or PRs by quite a bit. I was really glad to see that they’re chipping their times down. I thought they raced really well as far as their positioning and placing.”

Northwestern and Western compete in the Howard County meet on Saturday at Taylor.

For Kokomo, Kellie Miles was 16th (21:31), Brittany Wade was 44th (22:56), Kelsey Griffin was 52nd (23:33), Morgan Kemper was 75th (25:23) and Jenni Brown was 91st (27:05) in the Kats’ last meet before next Tuesday’s North Central Conference meet at Indiana Wesleyan in Marion.

“We had two out of five girls set season bests so we were happy with those two,” Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker said.

Cass was led by Ashley Baber in 19th (21:40), Kimmy Lane led Maconaquah in seventh (20:50), Eroica Stackhouse was 10th to lead Tipton (21:03), Taylour Kintner was 24th to lead Peru (21:58).

Molly King of Huntington North was the fastest individual, clocking in at 19:50.